Leo Shahar was named in the Newcastle squad for the first time this season on Wednesday
Leo Shahar of Newcastle United(Image: 2025 Newcastle United)
Newcastle United youngster Leo Shahar is on standby to make his debut for the club in Saturday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea.
A defensive injury crisis has left the Magpies potentially only having two fit senior defenders available in Malick Thiaw and Fabian Schar, with Lewis Hall being assessed for hamstring tightness ahead of the game.
United are without Tino Livramento, Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn, Sven Botman, Emil Krafth and Jamaal Lascelles through injury and midfielder Lewis Miley started Wednesday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final at right-back.
Miley is expected to start there against Chelsea, too, while should Hall fail a fitness test, Alex Murphy could make his first start for the club after impressing from the bench at left-back in the win over Fulham.
The defensive situation saw Shahar named in the matchday squad for the first time this season and for only the second time in his career.
The 18-year-old has captained England at under-18 level and can play at right-back or left-back and he is expected to be named in the squad again vs Chelsea.
Should he be required, he would be in line to make his Newcastle United debut and Eddie Howe would have no qualms throwing him into Premier League action after the teenager earned his ‘trust’ over the past year.
“Leo is another talented young player here,” Howe told Chronicle Live.
“I think he possesses the ability to play both sides so left-back and right-back, he’s done both for us. He has trained with us intermittently for about a season depending on our numbers.
“He is an England youth international, highly rated, really good athletically so he is in and around it and he is someone we would certainly trust having trained with us for a long period of time.”
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